


Even You Deserve It Too

by Lady_Katana4544 (orphan_account), orphan_account



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Early in Canon, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mostly Gen, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-02-09 22:49:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18647701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Lady_Katana4544, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "Even you deserve some measure of it, Natasha.""Hmm."





	Even You Deserve It Too

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SinginInTheRaine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SinginInTheRaine/gifts).



> Set a little after the first Avengers team up movie. Not currently compliant with Ultron, Infinity War, or Endgame.
> 
> Hope you enjoy :)

There were many reasons that Natasha knew that they didn't quite understand each other, even when Steve probably thinks that he does know her in some ways. But at the end of the day, she knows that in actuality he doesn't get her.

She knows that Steve has at least some amount of degree of admiration towards her – and that perhaps he might consider them even friendly. But there's no way that he would ever actually comprehend her and any motivations that she carries at any one time. She knows that all too well that she retains to keep so many critical details of herself concealed from public knowledge. Things that not even Clint would know about her – perhaps Hill, Coulson, and Fury know, but there is no one else that she trusts with anything more than the barest of details. 

There are only so many people that she would ever allow to have a view of sorts past the surface mask of whom she is, but Steve and their fellow Avengers are not one of those people that she will grant clearance to her true self and the secrets that Natasha keeps hidden from prying eyes yet.

A small of her would perhaps like to trust them to hope that they won't screw up team mission or play a lone wolf card like Stark or Banner going to the middle of nowhere to escape civilization. 

She can perhaps work with them, but they will never truly get her.

A case in point is this mission.

The Black Widow slid over a rocky embankment under enemy fire and hiccuped as she holstered one of her guns before she pressed one hand against her side. She pulls her hand away to stare at the slick blood on her hand.

She certainly doesn't flinch as Thor's voice suddenly screeches through the communicator in her ear.

"Captain! The Widow appears to need aid!"

Ah.

She certainly still isn't used at times to having a team at her back. She's mostly used to working alone or with Agent Barton, but not with an entire team at her side.

She ignores the shouted demands for her status from Barton and the others as an enemy agent tries to take advantage of her slightly distracted state. The enemy agent goes down with a gurgle as something thuds into the trench behind her, and she whirls around to point her gun against Captain America's helmet.

The world tunnels down to the two of them staring at each other, before Captain America's nostrils flare and his eyes flicker down to her wounded side. His mouth slowly opens to say something as enemy weapon suddenly sprays their general location and he's pushing her down into the dirt to avoid it.

A hiss of breath escapes past her lips before she can stop it and she looks at the huff of a snort above to see that the Captain is staring at her again as he's shouting commands into the communicators.

"We're currently pinned down, and the Black Widow is wounded! I'll stay with her until extraction can get to us. Everyone else will take care of their mission assignments and then leave the area. That means you too, Barton."

Then his attention turns back to Nat; she’s not sure what to make of his expression, so she glares at him silence before he sighs and reaches towards her.

Then his attention turns back to Nat; she’s not sure what to make of his expression, so she glares at him silence before he sighs and reaches towards her.

“We have to go now, Widow. I’ll try to help you more once we get somewhere safe that has a roof still attached to it.”

She doesn’t say anything as pain flares in the area around her wound when Cap helps her stand up, and they start laboriously moving away from the battle site toward a clump of partially destroyed trees.

“Captain, we should stay and complete the mission with the team,” Natasha says as they duck down behind an old crumbling wall. Her side certainly hurts, but she strongly feels like she can complete the mission while a drum pounds inside her head with her heartbeat. 

She refuses to show weakness to the man, who had foolishly allowed civilian scientists to turn him into a super soldier through an experiment that should have killed him instead.

His eyes flicker towards the battle where the rest of the team is and then back to her before glancing at her side where the suit is torn and bloody as he looks thoughtful for a brief moment, as she watches him come to a decision.

"I think that the others can handle themselves and handle the mission without our help while we get to somewhere that I can tend to your injury, Widow," Rogers answers, his gaze gentling through his helmet as he looks at her – she has always hated that expression –, destroying the tiny vain hope that she had of returning to the fight.

"I can handle myself, Captain."

She watches, not breaking her stare with the man as his expression turns hard as steel, his jaw clenching while he works on responding to her. Her attention is distracted by movement near them; her thoughts turn cold as she whirls around with a throwing knife in her hand that slices through the air to embed itself into the throat of an enemy agent. 

Black spots dot the edge of her vision as Natasha collapses to one knee and Rogers kneels in front of her, his expression earnest and concerned.

"Agent Romanov!"

She wants to admonish him for not using her codename because she's a weapon that needs no personal ties. They all are just weapons and codenames as most of them were trained to be; that they're supposed to be ruthless wolves waiting for someone to send them after hapless enemies reaching for things that are too big for them to comprehend. But she's finding it difficult to concentrate on her breathing, let alone keep hold of any thought that would lead to her berating her team leader for using civilian identities.

Suddenly there is a roar and something big crashing somewhere off in the distance, followed by Rogers swearing and possibly calling for backup to their location before she loses complete consciousness.

*

Everything after that is just a technicolor stream of colors, blurry out of focus images, and sounds that make no sense as she blinks against bright lights that sting at her eyes.

Natasha thinks that she has a vague impression of someone watching her and holding one of her hands. Of someone holding her against their chest gently and shushing her softly as she fails to stifle a groan at the movement. She doesn't deserve to have that sort of comfort..of having someone sit at her bedside and maintain a watchful vigil over her.

Darkness reclaims her weary conscious.

There's another confusing impression of soft lips gently moving across her forehead and ending at her temple before the person pulls away and her head rolls limply to follow the movement.

Someone sighs above as something wet and cold is placed gently on her forehead.

*

When she comes back to consciousness, days later, her mind is fuzzy as she sleepily tries to figure out what happened in her memories of scattered waking knowledge. 

It takes far too long to realize that someone is with her, beside the bed. Since Natasha had an idea of who her visitor was, she thought that she could try and pretend that she was still sleep in whatever little expectation there was within her that they would go away.

"I know you're awake, Romanov."

So it was him. 

How very not surprising.

Natasha slowly rolled over onto her uninjured side as she opened her eyes calmly to meet Steve's gaze as he watched her movements from the chair that he'd been sitting in for a while, judging by the detritus left around his chair.

"Do I want to know?" Natasha inquired.

"Probably not. But I wanted to wait with you since it seemed the right thing to do." Steve answered, rolling his shoulders slowly backward. "You muttered things whenever we were alone in this room that made me concerned and decided to stay beside your bed."

"Hmm."

"You deserve to have comfort as much as anyone else does, Natasha. Hurt or otherwise," Steve said, reaching over slowly to take her hand into his.

"Perhaps you could show me how to accept that. Barton certainly needs all the help he can get with that task," Natasha says quietly, staring at him while her lips quirking up ever so slightly. "And then you can show me what makes you so sweet to everyone around you."

Steve smiles and ducks his head bashfully, squeezing her hand gently.

"I think I can do that."


End file.
